A Year in Europe, And The Events That Occurred
by FLCJ
Summary: *AU* (modern day) Draco, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Pansy spend a year in Europe for their gap year. The gang encounter a lot of supernatural creatures along the way. Dramione, but will Pansy succeed in her desperate race to win over Draco? Will love bloom for Harry, Ginny or Luna? We'll have to see... Will include: Eldred Worple, Remus Lupin, and more!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Harry Potter **_**or any of its characters. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.**

This story is about a group of American teenagers that are spending their gap-year on a tour of Europe. No Hogwarts. No magic. They all grew up in the Pennsylvanian suburbs.

_**Pansy**_

I watched Ben and Hermione waltz across the ice, Their steps vigorous, but precise, carving patterns on the hard surface. I could see them talking to each other: '_deep edge, 1-2-3, swing-roll'_; they occasionally laughed or shared a smile. They ended their dance with a mock bow and curtsey, then grinned at each other. Ben and Hermione were unaware of my presence; I hid behind a wall, my face just barely peeking out. I wanted to see what they would do when they thought they were all alone at the rink. They skated over to the boards, each slide in unison, and took sips of water from separate bottles. Ben set his blue water bottle next to Hermione's green one.  
>"Race ya?" he suggested, his brown eyes sparkling. I decided his resemblance to Enrique Iglesias was rather amazing.<p>

"Definitely!" replied Hermione brightly. They lined up and counted _"3, 2, 1, GO!"_. I watched them skate around the ice; they put all they had into it, and Hermione had a look of sheer determination on her face. The lap was nearly up when Ben came up behind Hermione and grabbed her, resulting in them tripping and falling; and, ultimately, Ben lying on top of Hermione. I wondered how many times they had lied horizontally like this; except with the feeling of a mattress or the back seat of a car beneath them, instead of cold ice.

_If only Draco could see them now._ I thought with a smirk.

I watched Ben get up off of Hermione, and Hermione get up off the ice too, brushing snow from her behind. Ben put his arm around Hermione, placing his hand on her hip. A wave of jealousy hit me as I looked at Hermione's perfect brown ballet-bun, and Ben's thumb as it gently stroked her hip-bone. _Why couldn't that be me? Hermione the smart girl, the girl who was good at everything, the girl that everyone liked. Why was it always Hermione? Why did Hermione get a boyfriend like Draco, and a friend (and, also, ex-boyfriend) like Ben? It's unfair that she has two guys who worship her, and I have none. _At that moment I knew the only feeling I had for Hermione Granger was hate.

I realized the mood on the ice had changed: no longer were Hermione and Ben racing, now they were saying good-bye. I watched as they tenderly hugged each other, and Ben planted a kiss on Hermione's forehead. _Would that make Draco jealous? Would seeing that kiss hurt him? _I decided of there arose a chance to push Hermione off a cliff in Europe, I would take it. She didn't deserve the life she had: the happy family -the mother-, the nice boyfriend -the guy I was in love with-, the money, the good grades...she took it all for granted. And I...I had so little. If I could just have a mother and Draco, I would be so happy. I knew I couldn't have everything I wanted, and my dad had told me so many times that my mother wasn't coming back; I believed him. Draco wouldn't break up with Hermione without a reason-or some help. Helping wasn't really in my nature, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

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_**Draco**_

Harry and Hermione were spending the day at my house. We were flying to Paris the next evening, and Hermione was helping me with my packing. "Hermione, I think they make toothbrushes in Europe." I said, glancing into a filled suitcase she had brought over from her own house across the street. The case was half filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, and other hygienic products.

"How many toothbrushes do you have in here!" I said, my gray eyes wide.

"Like, thirty." Hermione replied calmly; not looking up from the book she was reading while she perched on the windowsill in my room.

"Harry!" I called.

"Yes." said Harry, entering my bedroom.

"How many toothbrushes are you bringing?" I asked, heading into my walk-in closet to get a suitcase of my own.

"One." replied Harry, like it was completely obvious.

"Well Hermione's bringing thirty." said I, exiting my closet and nodding my head in my girlfriends direction. Harry's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Oh my God," exclaimed Hermione, rolling her eyes as she stood up. "Who cares how many toothbrushes I bring with me?" She stuffed a book titled _Romania: At a Glance _into her suitcase.

"How many pairs of socks are you bringing?" Harry asked her.

"Ten, I think." He blinked, and I chuckled a bit as I sat down on my bed.

"So...you'll bring thirty toothbrushes, but only ten pairs of socks?" Harry said dubiously.

"My philosophy in life is that you can never have too many toothbrushes." Hermione said with a smile.

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_**Hermione**_

"We're here; make way!" said Ginny loudly as I opened the Malfoy's front door to let she and Luna in. Both of my best friends heaved two very large suitcases behind them, and I helped the girls lug them into my boyfriends house. A car was coming in an hour to pick us all up and take us to the airport.

Harry was helping Draco bring his suitcases downstairs when he caught the sight of Luna and Ginny, and smiled at them. "Holy suitcase heaven." he said when he and Draco had placed the other two suitcases with the rest that waited near the door. "This had better be one big-ass car that's picking us up. Hell, it'd better be a bus."

"Yeah, this had better not be one of those 'town cars'." I said teasingly to Draco.

"Is someone bringing three bags?" asked Ginny, counting the suitcases.

"I am." I told her. I knew that I had packed some items that I might not even use; but I didn't want to run out of clean clothes right away, either. Draco's mother, Narcissa, entered the foyer where we all stood.

"Evening, everyone." she said, and she hugged Luna and Ginny. "Is Pansy not here yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, but she'll be here soon." said Harry, speaking on his stepsister's behalf.

"I hope so, sometimes the drivers arrive early, and I absolutely hate to keep them waiting." She looked at Hermione "Have you got everything, Dear? You should all double check that you have all the necessary documents, et cetera."

"Mum, he have everything." Said Draco, sounding a mix of embarrassed and annoyed.

Narcissa smiled warmly, "I know when I'm not wanted." she said with a good-natured laugh. "I'll be in the sitting room, let me know when the car arrives so that I may say good-bye!" She exited through a large door on the left.

"Let's go wait in the living room until Pansy arrives." I suggested.

Pansy arrived about fifteen minutes later. "You're late." complained Harry. Pansy made a rude gesture with her hands.

Ginny laughed, "You two fight as if you'd been brother and sister all your life." Then she gave both Harry and Pansy a wry smile. Even I smiled at that; Harry's mother had married Pansy's father about two years ago, but the teens were still adjusting to it. Harry had dealt with the change fairly well, but Pansy still seemed to loathe the situation. For a second I remembered that Pansy and I had once been best friends, now we just hung out together because...well, I didn't actually know why. I frowned and leaned back against Draco, and he placed a soft kiss on my temple and I was reminded of an event that took place earlier that afternoon at my house.

_Hot water pouring down on me; this was my last shower in America before I headed to Europe. I had been to Europe plenty of times before, but this time was different; this time there were no parents, this time I was going with my boyfriend. '_And we'll have hot sex all over the continent' _I thought. _

"_Do you want me to come in there with you?" Draco asked. He was in the bathroom with me, but there was a curtain so he couldn't see me. I could only imagine the expression on his face when he asked my that question._

"_I'm good, thanks." I replied. To me, showering was about getting clean, so I didn't really want to get dirty in the shower-if you know what I mean. _

_I rinsed out my long brown hair and turned the water off. I pulled the curtain aside a tad, only to see Draco sitting a few feet away in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was watching me, waiting for the shower curtain to fall a little and uncover a part of me._

"_You pig." I said to him. Draco laughed, and I gingerly reached out for my robe, making sure that the shower curtain concealed anything important from Draco's view; though I was pretty sure you could see my nipples through the curtain material. _

"_Nothing I haven't seen before." said Draco, smirking. _

_I got out of the shower in my robe. "Not until we're in Paris, remember?" I said to him playfully. _

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Hermione

"Seen it. Don't want to see it. ...I've seen all of those." said Ginny as she scanned through the flights movie selections.

"You haven't seen that one." said Luna, pointing to a foreign language film.

"I don't do subtitles." Ginny said flatly. Luna sighed slightly, and then turned to me "What are you going to watch, Hermione?"

"Midnight in Paris" I said with a smile, it was one of my favorite films. I felt as though I had some sort of connection with the lead character; I really understood him. "They have Harold and Maude." I told Luna, smiling. That was one of Luna's favorite films; whereas Ginny liked action and comedy movies.

A few hours later I awoke to a beautiful sunny morning, according to the radar and map on the screen in front of me, we were flying over Cardiff. Flight attendants were moving among the aisles serving awake passengers a light breakfast. I was absolutely exhausted and my neck hurt from the way I had slept. I felt a kiss on the top of my head, and I looked up to see Draco standing up from his seat behind mine. "Morning." I said with a smile.

"More like the middle of the night." he said with a tired smile, he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

Pansy was still asleep in her seat next to Harry's, but Harry was awake and eating a blueberry muffin. "Did you hear that person snoring in the other row all night?" he asked between bites.

"She still is snoring." Draco said with a sneer, looking over at the girl in the other row. The girl was about our age, and her mouth was open and she was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking position while the snores rumbled out of her. She was an attractive looking girl when awake, but the same could not be said of her at the moment.

"God, I almost feel bad for her." Ginny said, looking at the snoring girl. I turned to my best friend, only just realizing that she'd woken up.

"Hey, Gin, good night's sleep?" I asked.

She shrugged, "They're serving breakfast already? I just ate dinner, like, three hours ago."

A short while later Luna and Pansy woke up, and soon after that we were landing at Charles du Gaulle Airport.

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Draco

She told me that this lift was 'big' by Paris standards. I believed her, I had once spent the night in a hotel near Montmartre that had a lift that allegedly fit four people; my parents and I had had one hell of a time just to fit the three of us.

The six of us were going to be spending the next two weeks in an apartment overlooking the Seine. Technically, it was illegal for all of us to stay in one place, but we had told the owner that it would only be four, maybe five of us, and she had consented. Only Hermione, Harry and Pansy were accompanying me as a young woman named Adele showed us the flat.

I was fluent in French so I did most of the talking to Adele (though she spoke perfect English, also); asking her where good restaurants around the area were, et cetera. After handing us over our sets of keys, Adele left and Hermione quickly called Ginny to let her know that she and Luna leave the cafe they were at and meet Harry outside of the apartment building to let them in and help bring up their luggage.

"I'm starved." said Ginny as soon she was in the apartment; her red hair was flying everywhere and she still wore the pajama bottoms she had worn on the plane. God knows what people must think when they see her. I thought.

"Okay, who wants to get settled in first and then go out?" asked Hermione. Hermione had changed, and brushed her hair and teeth at the airport already this morning; she was ready to go out and walk and experience Paris (a city she claimed to know like the back of her hand).

"It's not even eleven, so we can go have lunch in a little bit, and then spend the rest of the afternoon exploring." Suggested Luna.

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Luna

"Aren't those earrings beautiful?" I said to Hermione, pointing to a pair of fine filigree and amber earrings.

"They're really pretty." Hermione said, admiring them as a smile played at her lips.

"Luna, I found a pair of earrings that are so you." said Ginny from the other side of the shop. They were little dangling radishes. I smiled at Ginny, "You know me." I said to her softly.

"Radish earrings? As if you weren't already weird enough." said Pansy sourly, peering over my shoulder.

"They're not weird, they have character." I told her.

"Not that anyone asked your opinion." Ginny snapped at Pansy. Thankfully, Ginny and Pansy did not make a scene, and I was able to purchase the earrings in peace. The two girls had notoriously not gotten along since they met in eighth grade. Part of it likely had something to do with a territory issue over Hermione; Hermione and Pansy had been friends since first grade, but Ginny had not met Hermione until many years later. Ninth grade had been when the big 'falling out' between Hermione and Pansy had been, and neither of them had been amicable since. We left the little shop and found Draco and Harry sitting down and enjoying Amorino's ice creams.

"You didn't get us any?" Hermione teased her boyfriend, and she licked some of the ice cream from his cone. I noticed the expression on Pansy's face at this display; not that Pansy had really tried to hide it, everyone knew how she felt about Draco.

Since we were all experiencing some serious jet-lag, we just spent a few hours walking around before heading back to the apartment to take naps before dinner. I was sharing the main bedroom with Ginny and Pansy; Ginny and I slept in the bed, while Pansy slept on a cot that was stored under the bed and could be pulled out when it was needed. Hermione and Draco shared a small bedroom at the back of the apartment, and Harry was the unlucky one who had to sleep on a couch for the next two weeks.

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Pansy

He was an unconventionally attractive man, Lev Shevchenko, I supposed. Against his pale skin his green eyes stood out considerably, and a shadow of stubble was present on his long thin neck and square jaw. I invited him to sit with us at dinner, much to Hermione's dismay. Anything to displease Her Royal Highness, I thought.

Lev spoke with a moderately heavy Russian accent, but nonetheless spoke English very well. Almost everyone at the table was getting French onion soup, but Lev recommended I get the lamb.

"I'll get it if you will." I said to him rather coyly.

He looked at me as no one had ever looked at me before, and grinned in a way that made me wonder if I should feel aroused or terrified. As I looked into his slightly bloodshot eyes, I felt a little bit of both. My eyes dropped to my lap, my confidence shaken slightly and I smiled demurely. When I lifted my eyes back up I noticed Hermione looking at me with her pretty brow furrowed slightly, she looked away but I could tell she thought something was up. Even after all these years of not even being friends, we could still read each really well; which was scary in its own way.

Luna, or Loony as I liked to call her, talked to Lev quite a lot; asking him about Russia, and asking him how long he had been in Paris. Eventually we found out that he was a butcher, but soon I could not tolerate any more of her inane questions.

"Jeeze, Luna, don't interrogate the guy!" I said to her as nicely as possible, even with a smile on my face, but it did not matter there was still a stinging note to my words. The tension at the table was palpably awkward until the next bottle of wine arrived. Yes, I loved that about Europe; I could drink, and tonight we were drinking a fair amount. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, ordered more food; bottles vine and perrier were flowing freely, and I couldn't remember a recent time when I had had more fun. I also loved the fact that Lev Shevchenko's eyes almost never left me all night.

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In the next chapter:

I woke up. A dim light was seeping through the curtains. I looked around and saw a pile of my neatly folded clothes for today: shorts, t-shirt, and my bray lay on top. My heart surged a little when I remembered we were in Paris. I heard soft breathing coming from the body pressed against my back...


	2. Chapter 1

_**Hermione**_

I woke up. A dim light was seeping through the window. I looked around and saw a pile of neatly folded clothes for today: shorts and t-shirt, and my bra lay on top. My heart surged a little when I remembered we were in Paris. I heard soft breathing coming from the body pressed against my back; I turned my head on the fluffy pillow and gazed at Draco. As he slept I admired his long, pale eyelashes, and the golden shadow of stubble that had formed on his face since yesterday. I experienced an odd swelling sensation in my chest, that made me feel a little sad. I wanted to be close to him, as close as possible; he had never been further than a walk across the street in all of my eighteen years. Next year, we would be two-thousand miles apart; Draco in California, and I in Maine. Dubious thoughts about the arrangement floated into my head; I didn't try to push them away, I let each one speak its opinion. After, my heart felt like it was racing. Without noticing, I let out a long and loud sigh. Draco opened his eyelids, half drooping, and pulled me closer while his lips gently brushed my forehead.

"Good morning, _mon cherie_."

"Morning." I said, kissing him on the lips. He was tired, most likely because we had stayed up late to watch the Tour Eiffel sparkle at the top of every hour. Luna fell asleep soon after midnight out on the apartment's balcony, while the rest of us had somehow managed to stay awake for a while longer.

I could hear some people moving around in the kitchen, but I didn't move to get up. It was going to be a long day because Pansy's new friend Lev was taking us clubbing tonight. There was something unsettling about Lev; he seemed perfectly nice and charming, but this was a gut feeling I had. Maybe it was the eyes, they were a beguiling green and almost rimmed red. I had mistaken them for being bloodshot at first, but then saw them under better lighting before we left the restaurant. When you looked him in the eyes you could lose yourself, I had felt that last night when I had looked into his eyes and felt reality slip away. There was no doubt that Pansy had found Lev very alluring, but I knew that I couldn't warn her against him; she would never listen to me. I decided that I maybe should talk to Draco or Harry about it.

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_**Harry**_

Hermione and Draco were on the dance floor, smiling and holding each other close. Ginny was near them, dancing with everyone, though it seemed that none of her partners spoke much English because every once and while someone would say something to her and she would shout above the music "WHAT? I DON'T SPEAK FRENCH." I found it rather amusing to watch. Luna sat at a table with a sandy-haired woman she had struck up a conversation with. I glanced back to where Pansy and Lev were dancing...or had been a minute ago. Hermione come to me with her concerns about Lev. Though I wasn't particularly fond of having to keep an eye on my stepsister, it was better than having something happen to her.

"Shit." I muttered, my eyes darting around. The club was packed and dimly lit, I couldn't make out the faces of many people on the dance floor. The beat started to change as it melded into another song. Hermione walked over to where I was near the bar, laughing and pulling Draco by the hand. "I absolutely love dancing!" she said, and she leaned against her boyfriend almost as if she were drunk.

"Have you seen Pansy?" I asked them loudly.

"No." Hermione said, immediately alert and turning her head in every direction to look.

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_**Pansy**_

I felt giddy and was breathless with laughter.

"What are we doing?" I asked Lev in a loud whisper. It had been my idea to sneak out of the club, and Lev said that now we could have an adventure together.

"Shhh." he said to me with a mischievous grin twisting his lips. He grabbed my hand and we ran down the alley.

We emerged onto a street bright with neon lights and swarming with people. "So, what kind of an adventure do you want." he asked, walking along briskly with my hand still firmly clasped in his.

"Every kind of adventure! I want to walk on the edge; I want to break rules; I want to feel infinite; I want to feel alive. I want to...fuck people I barely know! And do great things, and see great things; but most of all, right now, I want to eat great things… I'm starving, is there anyplace we can go and get food?" I really was hungry all of a sudden. Lev laughed and brought my hand up to his mouth to kiss.

"Well, it just so happens, that you came to the right city; for all of those things!"

We first stopped and got some food, and when I no longer felt famished we began to make a more detailed plan about these adventures we were going to have.

He told me about a friend of his that was having a small party the next night, and he said that we'd start our adventure off there.

"What will the adventure be?" I asked him. His eyes twinkled when he looked at me.

"It will be a surprise." he said in a husky voice.

We had been walking around the streets of Paris for a while now. I checked my phone, and it said that it was 4 AM.

"Are you tired?" Lev asked. I shook my head. Lev stopped suddenly and turned to face me. I sighed as I looked up at him, losing myself in his eyes. But then I was losing myself on his mouth, as his lips pressed firmly against mine. I responded eagerly, kissing him back with a hungry fervor.

He pulled away "My apartment isn't far from here." he said with a trembling breath. I answered him by kissing him again. We ran to his apartment, and once inside the building began to passionately kiss again. He carried my up to his tiny flat, his mouth either on my lips, neck or collarbone the whole way.

Once inside, we quickly began to peel each others clothes' off. Kissing, and groping and biting, we fell into the bed. I moaned as he took one of my nipples into his mouth; I had never felt more aroused in my life as I felt at this moment.

"God, fuck me." I said to him.

"I thought you wanted me to fuck you." Lev said with mock hurt in his voice.

"Shut up, and do as you're told."

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	3. Chapter 2

_**Pansy**_

_Damn._

I Didn't have keys to get into the building. It was early morning, about 6, and I was standing outside of the apartment building that we were staying in while in Paris. I had just walked here from Lev's. After we had done the deed, he seemed to want me out of his place pretty bad; he had practically picked up my clothes, shoved them at me and shown me the door. His excuse was that he had to get ready for work, and he said he'd call me later. _Well, I'm not gonna hold my breath._ Shit, why was this happening to me? Maybe I was overthinking the whole thing.

I took a deep breath and called up to the apartment in the little key-pad near the front door. The phone was answered on the first ring.

"Hello! Pansy?" came a frantic female voice. "What," I snapped back, my usually demeanor returning quickly at the sound of that voice. There were a few muffled sounds on the other end of the line, and I thought they might have been fighting over phone. "WHERE THE _HELL_ HAVE YOU BEEN!" suddenly came the loud shout of Ginny Weasley. "WE'VE BEEN UP ALL DAMN NIGHT LOOKING FOR YOU, WAITING FOR...WE MUST HAVE CALLED YOU EIGHT HUNDRED FUCKING TIMES!" "Ginny!" came the reproachful cry of Luna.

Someone must have wrestled the phone from Ginny's grip and pressed the star key to let me up. When I reached the door to apartment eight they were all waiting for me. They still had the same clothes on as last night, and looked tired and wore looks of either worry or annoyance. I was immediately bombarded with "Where were yous," "We were so worried," and "Why didn't you answer my phone calls," I waved them all of as I pushed past them up the stairs into the apartment. I was getting a headache and just really wanted to go to bed, "Look, I'm really tired so I'm just going to take a shower and lie down for a while." I said as kindly as possible. My eyes caught Hermione's eyes for a second and I saw genuine worry in them. I scowled as I turned on my heel and took leave of their company.

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_**Hermione**_

I laughed as my boyfriend fed me a bite of his pizza, his grey eyes sparkled in response and the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. It was just the two of us, having dinner at a crowded little Italian restaurant. Harry, Ginny and Luna were going on the Batobus and then taking a walk up Champs Elysee at night when it was all lit up. Pansy was out again with her butcher friend. "What do you think Blaise would think of this place?" I asked Draco when I had finished my mouthful of pizza. Blaise was a close friend of Draco's who was working as a lifeguard this summer before going to UCLA Berkeley in the fall. Draco looked around thoughtfully before turning to me and replying "Intimate atmosphere, with plenty of vino flowing, good food, the waiter doesn't speak a word of English...or French for that matter; this is a place that my dear bosom companion, Blaise Zabini, would enjoy very much." Draco delivered this in a silky smooth voice and with the famous Malfoy smirk on his lips. I smiled at him and felt his fingers on my leg under the table. I looked directly at me boyfriend, and arched an eyebrow at him as his hand continued to move up my thigh. Draco grinned at me and removed his hand. "Soon," he said to me, looking around the restaurant "Don't worry, we'll do that soon." he finally added with a smirk. I scowled, "As if I was worried." I replied saucily.

Before we had finished our dinners a waiter had come and taken our orders for dessert; just as these desserts were arriving, two tiramisus, a stout, middle-aged aged man was seated at the little bistro table next to ours. He appeared to be wearing too many clothes for such fine weather, and, overall, just looked very out of place. I surveyed this individual while Draco started to eat his tiramisu (if there is one thing you can say about teenage boys, it's that they are always hungry). The man placed a ratty looking briefcase on the floor, that was so full that papers were sticking out of it, and fixed his glasses to a more comfortable position on the bridge of his nose. The man noticed my staring and I turned my attention back to my dessert, my cheeks growing warm. Draco raised an eyebrow at me from across the table, and my blush deepened.

After dessert we got a couple of coffees, and my thoughts turned to Pansy. "I feel kind of bad that we let Pansy go out with Lev alone." I said to Draco. "We've been out with them for four nights. We all met his friends, saw where he lives, hung out with him...he seems fine; I wouldn't worry about it." he hesitated before he added "Too much," Draco took my hand that was resting on the table into his and gently caressed it "Besides, we needed some time alone." I nodded in agreement, but I still felt sort of bad.

The bespectacled man at the table next to ours had been shooting us occasional furtive glances. I felt sort of bad for him; he was the only person sitting alone at a table in the crowded restaurant. The waiter had brought him a small bottle of wine and poured him a glass, and now the man was fiddling with his briefcase. His stubby fingers seemed almost clumsy as he handled the case, and quite suddenly (to him, it seemed, anyway) the case opened and papers slid out onto the floor, some even landing under mine and Draco's table. "Excuse me; I'm very sorry." he said in an embarrassed voice. He had a slight north-western European accent; but spoke English very well. I quickly gathered up some papers near my feet and noticed Draco doing the same. The man continued to heartily apologize. "It's quite all right." I said kindly to the man, smiling and handing back a handful of his papers. He apologized to both of us again, but Draco reassured him that it was fine. "You are too kind." he told us, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his forefinger. "I'm Draco, and this is Hermione." Draco said gesturing to me. The man stuck out his hand to shake "My name is Eldred, Eldred Worple," he said shaking Draco's hand, and then mine, bowing his head slightly at me. "It's a pleasure to meet you," I hesitated: "Would you like to sit with us?" Even I surprised myself with that, but Draco masked any emotion he might have felt and immediately offered to pull up a chair.

"-actually, that's why I'm in Paris; researching for my new biography." Eldred had turned out to be quite the talker, despite of his sheepy disposition earlier. "Have you written biographies before, or is this your first?" asked Draco. "Oh, yes! I have have written seven other biographies, but I expect this one will be my big break. All my others have been of people in the Amsterdam and Brussels areas: nobody very interesting really; artists, a famous musician… These people were so insignificant that I can't really imagine anyone wanting to read their life story!" _'Then why did you want to write it?' _I thought "I made a decision very early on in my career," Eldred continued "That I wouldn't write biographies on people that have about a hundred biographies written about them. I mean, everyone and their brother have written a biography on Dickens and da Vinci; I've read enough about the lives of people that died hundreds of years ago! So, I promised myself to only write about people of my time...the problem is finding these people. But! this one I'm working on now, oh, it's something quite different, quite extraordinary." His eyes glowed, and his cheeks turned rosy as he talked about his new book. "What -or who- is it about; if I may ask." said Draco. "Oh, of course! It's about this charming young man, by the rather unfortunate name of 'Sanguini' -but the name suits him, I suppose. His life story has been quite extensive, but he has changed and made a fresh start for himself in London; that's where I met him, actually." "You said you were in Paris doing research-" I queried. "Oh, yes! You see, Sanguine used to live in Paris and he still has acquaintances here that I wish to speak with to know a little bit more about him. Though I'm worried that his friends here may be a slightly rough crowd, I wouldn't want to get on their bad side." Eldred smiled at this as if he had said something amusing. "I should probably mention at this point that Sanguini is, in fact, a vampire."

"A _vampire_?" I asked dubiously. Draco raised his eyebrows at me silently as if to say 'Wow, look at the nutter we found.' "Yes, though I understand your reluctancey to believe me; even I wasn't sure at first. But...there is a group -a coven, I believe they call it- here in Paris. As I understand it, they don't don't work, at least not during the day, but usually they have a fake job that they say they work at. Actually," Eldred got out sheet of paper from his momentarily forgotten briefcase, and placed it in front of my on the table. I read the address; it sounded familiar… _'No... it can't be...' _I reread the address a couple of times. It was, it really was the same address to an apartment I had been to two nights ago. I pushed the paper over to Draco for him to read it. "That's an old friend of Sanguini's that I intend to speak to." said Eldred. Draco shook his head at me, not recognizing the address. "The party! at Lev's friends' house!" no reaction: "Two nights ago!" I said frantically. Draco's eyes grew big and round "No," he whispered under his breath and grew very pale.

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**A.N.: As you all know, these characters do not belong to me (except for the few that I'm making up). All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.**


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